The word has certainly been diluted by years of misuse. Umberto Eco wrote in his 1995 essay “Ur-Fascism” that "fascist" as an epithet was casually thrown around “by American radicals… to refer to a cop who did not approve of their smoking habits.” When every authority figure who seems to abuse power gets labeled a fascist, the word loses its explanatory power and its history disappears. But Eco, who grew up under Mussolini and understood fascist Europe, insisted that fascism has clearly recognizable, and portable, if not particularly coherent, features.

“The fascist game can be played in many forms,” Eco wrote, depending on the national mythologies and cultural history of the country in which it takes root. Rather than a single political philosophy, Eco argued, fascism is "a collage... a beehive of contradictions." He enumerated fourteen features that delineate it from other forms of politics. Like Eco, Stanley also identifies some core traits of fascism, such as “publicizing false charges of corruption,” as he writes in his book, “while engaging in corrupt practice.”

In the short New York Times opinion video above, Stanley summarizes his “formula for fascism”—a “surprisingly simple” pattern now repeating in Europe, South America, India, Myanmar, Turkey, the Philippines, and “right here in the United States.” No matter where they appear, “fascist politicians are cut from the same cloth,” he says. The elements of his formula are:

1. Conjuring a “mythic past” that has supposedly been destroyed (“by liberals, feminists, and immigrants”). Mussolini had Rome, Turkey’s Erdoğan has the Ottoman Empire, and Hungary’s Viktor Orban rewrote the country’s constitution with the aim of “making Hungary great again.” These myths rely on an “overwhelming sense of nostalgia for a past that is racially pure, traditional, and patriarchal.” Fascist leaders “position themselves as father figures and strongmen” who alone can restore lost greatness. And yes, the fascist leader is “always a ‘he.’”

2. Fascist leaders sow division; they succeed by “turning groups against each other,” inflaming historical antagonisms and ancient hatreds for their own advantage. Social divisions in themselves—between classes, religions, ethnic groups and so on—are what we might call pre-existing conditions. Fascists may not invent the hate, but they cynically instrumentalize it: demonizing outgroups, normalizing and naturalizing bigotry, stoking violence to justify repressive “law and order” policies, the curtailing of civil rights and due process, and the mass imprisonment and killing of manufactured enemies.

3. Fascists “attack the truth” with propaganda, in particular “a kind of anti-intellectualism” that “creates a petri dish for conspiracy theories.” (Stanley’s fourth book, published by Princeton University Press, is titled How Propaganda Works.) We would have to be extraordinarily naïve to think that only fascist politicians lie, but we should focus here on the question of degree. For fascists, truth doesn’t matter at all. (As Rudy Giuliani says, "truth isn't truth.") Hannah Arendt wrote that fascism relies on “a consistent and total substitution of lies for factual truth.” She described the phenomenon as destroying “the sense by which we take our bearings in the real world.... [T]he category of truth verses falsehood [being] among the mental means to this end.” In such an atmosphere, anything is possible, no matter how previously unthinkable.

Using this rubric, Stanley links the tactics and statements of fascist leaders around the world with those of the current U.S. president. It’s a persuasive case that would probably sway earlier theorists of fascism like Eco and Arendt. Whether he can convince Americans who find talk of fascism “outlandish”—or who loosely use the word to describe any politician or group they don’t like—is another question entirely.

FYI: You can download Stanley's new book How Fascism Works, as a free audiobook if you want to try out Audible.com's no-risk, 30-day free trial program. Find details here.

Honestly, this “fascism” can indeed describe the current left zeitgeist. Trump (not defending him, mind you) can be seen as a reaction to the constant redfining of terms and cultural chaos, and the denial of science when it suits the left (as does the right). As far as a Mythic Past, casting all whites as gnarling slave owners when it was only a very small percentage, acting as if there was a golden era before colonialism could also be seen as making up a past.

Not arguing the professors list, just saying it can apply to more than one political ideology, even at one time. Oppose Trump’s policies, but please, name calling is not helping.

FWIW, ideologically fascism is an outdated term that should only be applied to Mussolini’s regime.

“Fascism” to today’s Leftists (specifically Progressives), means ANYONE to the right of Stalin, classic-liberals included. The word, like “bigot,” “racist,” “hater,” and others before it, have been so misused and thrown-around so carelessly that it’s original meaning and implications have cheapened, devalued of it’s true meaning. Too many of those who like to use that word, are actually projecting their own beliefs and attitudes–mask-wearing people who carry weapons destroying property, and verbally and physically attacking anybody who disagrees with their radical, narrow-beliefs comes to mind. No, I’m not talking about the almost non-existent and decades-defunct KKK-bogeyman, either! Meanwhile, Communists, with their millions more dead than Nazism, loom in the corner, completely unnoticed by those worried about totalitarianism…

3a: Accuse the other side of the very things you’re most guilty of. It’s an effective propaganda tool. Rhetorical ju-jitsu. Thus, the left is uniquely “intolerant” or “bigoted” or “dangerous” or “violent” or “wanting to perpetuate slavery.” (That last one’s especially rich coming from Republicans.)

The coordinated stream of propaganda and hatred coming out of the news media since election night on 2016 is exactly what you’d expect from a fascist nation, except the fascist lost, but they still control the microphones and TV broadcasts, and can’t tolerate being called out for what they are.

I’m amused by the way Jason Stanley supports his claim that the word fascism has been over used for a long time by referring to something written in 1995. Actually George Orwell pointed out in the 1940s that the word had become meaningless thru over-use.

Lefties repeat the word “fascist” like demented parrots because like parrots, dogs, cats etc they have difficulty in enunciating more than about ten noises: fascist, racist, Nazi and that’s about it…:-)

The same holds for the intolerant left, except they replace the mythic past with a mythic future (Marxist utopia, LGBTQXYZ free-love paradise, trigger-warning-filled eden, no borders shangri-la) that those pesky right-leaning people keep them from reaching.

how any sane person cannot see a direct link to fascism by the democratic parties behavior is insane.
trying to control the media, shutting down free speech,conjuring fake charges against people they want to eliminate, calling all opposing views “hate speech” etc.its appalling
when the backlash kicks in i hope all of the evil sick people suffer
greatly

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Open Culture editor Dan Colman scours the web for the best educational media. He finds the free courses and audio books you need, the language lessons & movies you want, and plenty of enlightenment in between.